Living in single-parent households: An investigation of the same-sex hypothesis

We examine the social scientific evidence regarding one question increasingly addressed in legal scholarship and in custody cases: Are children who live with their same-sex parent in a better situation than their peers who live with an opposite-sex parent? After evaluating the current research on the same-sex hypothesis, we extend this literature by analyzing three data sets (National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, High School and Beyond, and the General Social Survey). We focus on a broader array of socioemotional, academic, and personality variables than those previously studied to explore the implications of same-sex parenting on adolescence and adulthood. We find virtually no evidence of a benefit from hiving with a same-sex parent. This study represents the most complete test to date of, and rebuttal to, the same-sex argument.